Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Real Estate & Property Law Blogs -> Real Estate Space

Real Estate & Property Law

: Real Estate Space

Usury in Massachusetts

By Doug Cornelius

I ran across two articles on usury and expect we will see more as the debt markets and foreclosures continue to sort themselves out and more borrowers are faced with foreclosure.Usury is the charging of excessive interest on a loan. Most states have a law prohibiting usury and defining what is meant by usury. Usury laws were originally targeted at loan sharks. As a result, most usury statutes make the charging of usurious interest a criminal act. They also generally allow the borrower to escape from making the excessive interest payments.Massachusetts defines interest in excess of 20% to be the interest rate that triggers usury. M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 49. The 20% threshold also includes any brokerage fees, recording fees, commissions, forbearance or any other amounts the borrower has to pay to the lender...continue to full post

Full post as published by Real Estate Space on November 26, 2007 (boomark / email).